Websterrogers Financial Advisors LLC Makes New $259,000 Investment in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Websterrogers Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 2,287 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at $57,000. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $1,195,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 16,758 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,895,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 6,371 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $721,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth about $471,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE:ABT opened at $110.96 on Thursday. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.67. The firm has a market cap of $192.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.73%.

Abbott Laboratories Profile

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Ménière’s disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.